French door, or double door, entryway units are popular in commercial and residential settings for their pleasing aesthetics and functional practicality. The optional ability to open a secondary (i.e. passive) door panel greatly increases the ability for ingress and egress of persons and household items.
As seen in FIG. 1, a French door entryway 10 traditionally includes a passive door panel 12, and an adjacent active door panel 14. The sets of door panels may swing inwardly (as shown in FIG. 1) into the structure (so-called “inswing” doors), or may swing outwardly from the structure (so-called “outswing” doors). The passive door panel 12 typically includes an astragal 16 mounted along the entire extent of a non-hinged vertical edge (the stile) of the passive door panel. In its most simple form, the astragal 16 may be little more than molding attached to the passive door panel 12 to act as a stop for the active door panel 14. More recently, astragals 16 have taken the form of assemblies mounted to the stile of the passive door panel 12, which have a significant role in the structural and environmental resistance performance of the entryway 10. The astragal 16 has a role in securing the passive door panel 12 in place, and often includes seals to prevent the infiltration of moisture into the building.
To secure the passive door panel 12 in a closed position, the astragal 16 may be provided with hardware 18, such as conventional sliding bolts, adjacent to at least one of a top and a bottom of the passive door panel. The hardware 18 typically engages a frame 19 of the entryway. The frame may have a header 20 spanning the top of the entryway 10 and a threshold 22 (also referred to as a door sill) spanning the bottom of the entryway. Hardware 18 mounted near the top of the passive door panel would extend upward to engage the header 20, and hardware mounted near the bottom of the passive door panel would extend downward to engage the threshold 22.
Improper assembly or installation of an entryway 10 can create conditions where the hardware 18 is prevented from moving into its fully engaged position. This can lead to reduced strength under wind loads and to sub-optimal compression of sealing components. In some existing hardware 18, the pin may be able to retreat from its extended position inadvertently as a result of repeated active door use. This movement can lead to partial or even full disengagement from the frame and reduced sealing performance. Therefore, designers continue to make improvements to the hardware 18 to provide a more secure, robust and consistent device for maintaining the passive door panel 12 in a closed position.